Sunday, 11 November 2012

Chocolate marshmallow teacakes

This is my attempt at the Great British Bake Off technical
challenge of chocolate marshmallow teacakes.
For non-UK readers, The Great British Bake Off is a phenomenally popular
television programme where each week competitors bake around a theme; week by
week the weakest is eliminated until a winner is found. The round that is likely to elicit the most
drama (and sympathy from viewers!) is the technical challenge where the bakers
are given a recipe (with no warning as to what it will be) and have to create
the bake with minimal instructions. Of
the recent series’ technical challenges, I think this one created the most
drama and interest.

Now I buy a lot of cake tins. I admit this.
When they arrive, I show Mr CC who – if I’m lucky – will actually look
at the tin before asking me, with a mild tinge of sarcasm, where I plan on
storing it (my cupboards are full of cake tins.
Very full. Luckily I played a lot
of Tetris in my youth). This is the
standard way new cake tins are greeted.
A couple of weeks before this technical challenge appeared, I had
actually purchased the silicone half sphere moulds required. Mr CC got quite into the recent series and
his eyes became saucer-like as he watched the giant teacakes take shape. I was watching thinking, ‘thank god I’m not
on the show and won’t ever have to faff around making them’. At which point Mr CC announced, ‘you HAVE to
make those!’ In a split second, I opted
for deceit. ‘But I’d have to buy the moulds – where would I store them?’ And guess what? For the first time in history, Mr CC decided
to remember one of my purchases and caught me out. He remembered that I had the half sphere
moulds. Typical!

I was surprised to get a shiny chocolate finish because my
flat – even without the heating on – is like a furnace. If I hadn’t put the moulds in the fridge they
would never have set. I was all prepared
for matt finish chocolate, but knowing my only critic was Mr CC who would
struggle to get past the wonder of the biggest chocolate teacake he had ever
seen, I knew I’d be ok – but I needn’t have worried anyway!

For the uninitiated, a teacake is a crisp biscuit base
topped with sticky mallow and enclosed in a dome of chocolate. When I tasted the biscuits on their own, I
found them a little flavourless, but when tasted in the finished teacake they
are perfect.

I played around with the order of making things – I didn’t
fancy the pressure of making the biscuits while the melted chocolate cooled. I have also used my tried and trusted methods
rather than those given in the original recipe such as rolling out between two sheets of clingfilm rather than a floured
board. The mallow filling was divine – I
love this photo of it looking all glossy and inviting:

My chocolate shell was too thick (I panicked and did two
coats of chocolate), meaning they needed a period of acclimatising to room
temperature before you could bite into them, but seriously – when can thick
chocolate ever be considered a serious problem?
Next time I would stick to one coat, and use milk rather than dark
chocolate. The biscuit base was good but
mine came out a little thick – so I’ll roll them thinner next time.

Am I glad I made them?
Yes. Are they deliciously sticky
and messy to eat? Yes. Do I still love teacakes? Yes. Have
Tunnocks lost out on my business? Er,
no....these are by no means a quick bake!

Start by making the biscuits: place the flours, baking
powder, sugar and butter into the mixer and mix until you have fine
breadcrumbs. You could also do this in
the processor, or by hand with the rubbing in method.

Stir in the milk and bring together to make a ball.

Roll out between two sheets of clingfilm until it is about
0.5cm thick.

Cut out biscuits using a 6-7cm round cutter. I got more than the six biscuits required and
kept them for spares....i.e. I ate them.

Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 10 minute. This will limit them spreading as they bake.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan oven 150°/325°F/Gas mark 3.

Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until the biscuits are
hard. Mine took much longer – nearer to
20 minutes.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Now melt the chocolate: melt 300g of the chocolate (you’ll
use the rest later). Melt in a bowl over
a pan of simmering water – the bottom of the bowl must not touch the water.

When melted, take off the heat and leave to cool and firm a
little. If you try to line the mould
with runny chocolate it will all pool in the bottom of the mould.

Spoon a tablespoon of melted chocolate into each half sphere
silicone mould. Use the curved back of
the spoon to direct the chocolate so that you have a thin, even covering. Use more chocolate if needed.

Set aside to set. If
you live in a cool house and can let them set in the air, you will retain the
shine of the chocolate. My flat is so
hot that it would never set so I had to put them in the fridge. You lose the shine but needs must.

Dip the cooled biscuits in the remaining melted
chocolate. They need to be completely
covered.

Put to one side to set (or the fridge).

Now make the filling: place all the ingredients in a bowl
and place over a pan of simmering water – the bottom of the bowl must not touch
the water.

Whisk – with an electric hand whisk (unless you are a
masochist!) – for about 8 minutes until it is silky smooth and doubled in
volume. Think whipped cream – that’s
what you’re aiming for.

Spoon into a piping bag – no need for a nozzle; you pipe the
filling to ensure there are no gaps.

Melt the remaining 100g of chocolate and spoon into another
piping bag then seal the end.

Leave to
cool and firm up a bit.

Pipe the mallow into the chocolate moulds about 2/3 to ¾ full.
(NB. I barely used half the mallow – don’t know why the recipe says to make so
much. Other bloggers have made the same
comment so I don’t think it’s just me)

Snip the end off the chocolate piping bag and pipe some
chocolate onto the mallow and the rim of the mould.

Place a biscuit on top and smooth the chocolate with a knife
so it’s all sealed.

Repeat with the other moulds.

Leave to set (ideally not in the fridge but it’s not a
disaster if you must).

Carefully, turn the teacakes out of the moulds. Try not to touch the chocolate dome as you’ll
leave fingerprints!

Well done! I have watched TGBBO from YouTube so I know what were writing about. Yours look amazing. To be honest, I haven´t eaten a single tea cake in my life but I know Tunnocks. Here in Finland we have something similar but instead of biscuit there water underneath and shape of cake is bit different. I wouldn´t try those but I haven´t got the tin. I did shop quite a lot at Lakeland´s on my visit to London but didn´t get those :)

I've never seen anything so gorgeous in my life. I have never seen the programme - ghastly thought having to watch people playing about with food - but your teacake must top anything they could produce! Brilliant.

What a work of art! I never knew that one could make mallow, and was assuming as I read the story that you would have bought some sticks (like the type of thing one buys to put in hot chocolate drink) and somehow melt them down into a filling! I think one could use that gorgeous stuff in other cakes - do you think? Something chocolatey and walnuty I am imagining.

Just one more question - I am having difficulty visualising the actual size of these - it would have been handy to have an egg or a spoon in the picture to compare. What size are your teacakes?

And by the way, you have definitely married the right man! He sounds like an absolute hoot, and soulmate!

These teacakes are pretty close to the top of my to bake list but now I'm a little scared... yours look AMAZING...I'm not sure mine will end up looking this good! They're better than some of them on the Bake Off! :-)

Wow! Your teacakes look AMAZING! I've been wanting to try making these since I saw the episode of TGBBO, but I haven't yet got round to purchasing the required moulds, but having seen how good yours turned out, I'm seriously tempted!!!

They look amazingly delicious and perfect!! I loved watching them being made on TGBBO and my whole family are teacake lovers. I need to pluck up the courage to give them a go! Maybe after the Christmas madness!!

wow, i salute you, i really do. beautiful shiny domes of deliciousness! i remember that episode, it was sticky, messy and tough. the hollywood made it look like he was just making toast. you should be mighty proud of these.

Wow, marshmallow perfection, I am completely in awe (and I think Mr CC should be too!). Your comment about Tetris really made me laugh - I wasted so, so many hours of my youth trying to make those bricks form rows and honestly I could do it without thinking about it. Did you ever play Minesweeper too? I got (embarrassingly) good at that too. I don't think I'll be making these, but they do look fantastic!

Oh hats of to you CC, that teacake looks amazing and every bit as good as the ones on GBBO. I was quite keen on having a go myself until I saw the masterclass - eek! Mr CC had better love you very much.

Any reason you used two types of sugar for the mallow rather than the sugar/golden syrup combination used by Paul Hollywood? Just checking as I plan to make these tomorrow. Super post by the way. Thanks.

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